 "A Wall St. sign is seen outside the entrance of the New York Stock Exchange in New York's financial district")
US stocks ended higher after a volatile session on Tuesday as concerns about the health of the global economy kept investors cautious after more than a month of turbulence.
The S&P 500 recovered after falling earlier to within 0.26% of lows it touched in August, when fears of a slowdown in China shocked global markets.
"I would never have expected that we would take out that low and we haven't yet, but we sure are close. A retest is a good thing but it needs to hold," said Randy Frederick, managing director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin.
Seven of the 10 S&P sectors rose, with the healthcare index up 0.9%, ending a seven-day losing streak, thanks in part to gains in Johnson & Johnson
Pharmaceutical and biotech stocks had faced pressure after Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticised drug pricing last week.
The Nasdaq Composite ended lower and the S&P technology index dipped 0.55%. Apple fell 3.01% a day after reporting record first-weekend sales of its newest iPhones.
Although the market's recent rout has forced many strategists to slash their year-end expectations, a new Reuters poll shows the S&P 500 ending 2015 roughly 11% above current levels.
"We're taking a breather after the carnage we saw yesterday and in the last few days," said Robert Francello, head of equity trading for Apex Capital in San Francisco. "I wouldn't be surprised if we go a little lower before we stabilise."
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.3% to end with 16,049.13 points and the S&P 500 gained 0.12% to 1,884.09. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.59% to 4,517.32.
Investors are awaiting data scheduled to be released this week, culminating in nonfarm payrolls numbers on Friday.
A report on Tuesday showed the consumer confidence index rose to 103.0 in September, topping economists' expectation of 96.1.
With third-quarter earnings season looming, Goldman Sachs said it expects sales growth for S&P 500 companies to shrink this year for the first time in five years.
After the bell, Diamond Foods
During the regular session, Yahoo
Nexstar
Republic Airways
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,732 to 1,353. On the Nasdaq, 1,759 issues fell and 1,053 advanced.
The S&P 500 index showed one new 52-week high and 70 lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 15 new highs and 323 lows.
About 7.9 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, above the 7.3 billion daily average for the past 20 trading days, according to Thomson Reuters data.
